This invention relates to a skimmer assembly for use in a swimming pool and, more particularly, to such an assembly for regulating the flow of water from the upper surface of the pool and the main pool drain to an externally located pump-filter assembly, for circulating and cleaning the water.
A conventional swimming pool installation usually incorporates a pump and filter located adjacent the pool for circulating and filtering the pool water. In these arrangements, one or more skimmers are usually provided which are adapted to skim off the upper surface of the pool water and pass same to the pump-filter assembly for filtering and recirculation. The amount of pool water skimmed is usually controlled by a floating weir associated with each skimmer which is responsive to the level of water in the pool to insure that only a predetermined amount of water from the upper surface of the swimming pool will be introduced into the skimmer.
Although these arrangements are operative through substantial variations in the height of water in the pool, there are limits to their range of operation since the level in the swimming pool may drop below the inlet opening to the skimmer so that the weir can no longer maintain flow from the pool by lowering. In such circumstances, the tank will run dry and the pump will draw air which, of course, not only incurs the possibility of damaging the pump, but creates a nuisance as far as restarting the system is concerned.
Several techniques have been devised to alleviate this problem, including the provision of connecting the drain from the pool to the skimmer tank so that the pump will draw water from the drain both during the time the weir is operating in its normal manner and when it reaches its lowermost position in response to the level of water in the pool falling below a predetermined value.
However, in these arrangements there is little, if any, provision for regulating the flow of water from the pool drain and, therefore, the proportional amount of water drawn from the upper surface of the pool and from the pool drain. Also, it is customary to provide an attachment or the like for enabling a vacuum hose to be connected to the skimmer in a manner such that the bottom of the pool can be "vacuumed" by utilizing the vacuum from the pump-filter assembly. However, when the skimmer tank is connected to the pool drain it can be appreciated that the flow from the drain must be blocked during the vacuuming process, so that the full vacuum load of the pump will be available. This requires fairly elaborate and extensive connections using additional hardware which places an added burden on the operator/owner of the swimming pool. Also, in the event these types of connections are not removed after the vacuuming is complete, or if the pool drain is blocked in any other manner, the tank will run dry and the pump will pump air under the circumstances set forth above.